Rebeca Seitz Interview

by C.J. Darlington

"...my
faith flavors what I write. When I create, I feel a sense of joining
with the Creator, of fumblingly (like that word?) moving my fingers
on a laptop in a pale, pale shadow of His fingers moving in the void
to create what was not there." --
Rebeca Seitz

Rebeca Seitz loves to scrapbook. And read (while eating chocolate). And
write (while eating chocolate). And hang out with girlfriends (while
eating chocolate). And laugh (not while eating chocolate - that'd
be gross!). And tell stories about her crazy husband and crazier toddler
(pausing on the chocolate since her momma taught her not to talk with
her mouth full). And...well, you get the picture. She's been in the
publishing industry for many years as a literary publicist, securing
media placement in places like The Today Show and USA Today for astounding
authors of amazing fiction.

In 2006, Rebeca decided
to join their ranks and sold her first novel specifically for the scrapbooking
world, Prints Charming, to Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Creating a world of girlfriends and scrapbooking was such fun, she then
signed on to write four more scrapbooking novels, this time for B&H
Publishing Group. Sisters, Ink, the first novel in the series, will release
February 2008. Subsequent books in the series will release every six months.
For those of you who hate math, that means there will be another Sisters,
Ink novel in August 2008, February 2009, and August 2009. (Rebeca understands
math deficiency - it's why she works in the world of words and leaves the
math to her engineer-minded husband.)

C.J.: Were books a big part of your life growing up? If so, what books
would you say influenced you most as a child? I hear you were a huge
Nancy Drew fan …

Rebeca: I was a Nancy
Drew fan! Wow, you do your homework. :) Stories have been a part of my
life for
as long as I can remember. My parents started
me out at age 4 with “Benji Goes to School” – and accompanying
45 record, of course. I listened to it so much, I memorized it. My great,
great aunt, Retta Moultrie, also fostered my love of reading. She had a
huge collection of Reader’s Digest Magazines in her home and she
let me play “office” with them all the time. Her oldest issue
was from 1979. I have no idea how many times I read the stories in those
magazines. For every Christmas in memory, I’ve asked for books. My
mom has a picture of me from junior high opening up a huge box of books – the
expression on my face tells how much I love stories! For months afterward,
she’d have to tell me to put the book down at the dinner table, reminding
me that dinner was the time for conversation, not reading. My husband does
that now. :)

You got your start in the industry as a publicist for Thomas Nelson. Tell
us a little bit about what first drew you to working in public relations.

It was Dr. Jerald Ogg
at the University of Tennessee at Martin. I went to college declaring
a major
of communications because Mrs. Pam Harris – my
high school Spanish and journalism teacher – told me I had a knack
for writing. At UTM, communications majors pick a track of study: journalism,
broadcast, or public relations. Dr. Ogg told me he thought I should consider
public relations. By this point, I’d also declared political science
as a major. I thought combining public relations with political science
would give me a good educational foundation from which I could build a
career in politics. :)

It wasn’t until a year after graduation that I met Eva Marie Everson,
a fine lady and writer who took me under her wing when I was living in
Orlando. Eva Marie helped me get a book proposal in front of editors. But
when one told me it was the best proposal he’d seen and to send him
the entire manuscript, I knew something was off. Eva Marie was more excited
than me! If this was the culmination of my life’s purpose, then I
knew I should be at least as excited as Eva. I told her I knew I was supposed
to be in book publishing, but perhaps this part of my life wasn’t
supposed to be dedicated to writing novels.

I prayed in earnest
and, a year after that, learned of the open publicist position at Thomas
Nelson.
I didn’t even know what a literary publicist
was, but I had a degree in communications with an emphasis in public relations
and a passion for Christian fiction. I went for the interview and met Pamela
Clements, then Vice President of Marketing and Publicity for Thomas Nelson.
Pamela is a sharp businesswoman and she shot straight with me. She said
there were others with more experience, but I was the only candidate who
had a deep passion for fiction. “I can teach you this job, Rebeca,” she
said, “but I can’t teach someone to be passionate.” Three
months and several rounds of interviews later, Pamela offered me the job.
Thus began my career as a literary publicist.

Did your desire to write stem from helping other authors promote their
fiction, or has it been a lifelong goal for you?

It hasn’t been a lifelong goal, no. My lifelong goal is to do exactly
what God has planned for me – to seek that out, to chase after His
dreams with unending zeal, to keep finding His delightful plan day after
day. As each new phase of my professional life begins, I see how He has
woven together all the things that came before so that I could be prepared
for the present. It astounds me, this story of my life that He’s
writing.

The initial idea for your first novel Prints
Charming came from a brainstorming
session you had with some editors, but you obviously ran with it! What
excited you most about this idea?

I was so excited that
God had brought me an opportunity to write a novel! I had let go of that
idea
when I became a publicist, not realizing how
much of a loss that was for my imagination until I was afforded the reward
for that sacrifice. And I was – still am – so stoked to write
about smart women who seek out their purposes as hard as I do. They don’t
go about the search in the same way I do, but these characters are very
real to me. I struggle with them – even crying when writing their
tough scenes or laughing out loud with them when they’re being goofy.
It’s such a fun adventure to enter the imagination God created and
see what it can do.

How did you get started in scrapbooking?

That would be my sister’s doing. :) She’s a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator and even more of a diehard scrapper than I am. I initially
got into scrapping because I was ordering her products – you know,
supporting her in her new endeavor (which would explain the amount of Tupperware
and Pampered Chef in my cupboard as well). Christie stuck with Stampin’ Up!
because she had found her passion. She loves capturing her family’s
stories in scrapbooks. She even became a professional photographer and
has a studio of her own these days! You can check it out at www.christiericketts.com.

Any tips or
suggestions for someone who’s interested in starting
the hobby themselves? Maybe something like the “5 tools you can’t
live without”, or “beginner mistakes to avoid”?

To anyone who wants
to dip a toe into the scrapbooking pond, I have one very important thought
to
share, “Do not be overwhelmed.” There
are scrappers for whom scrapbooking is an art form. My sister is one of
those. Her scrapbooks are absolutely gorgeous works of art. For many months,
I didn’t scrapbook because I couldn’t scrap like her. It took
me a while to figure out this is not a contest. I scrapbook differently
than she does and that’s okay. Neither of us is right or wrong. Neither
are you, newbie scrapper. If all you do is buy a glue stick and some cardstock
at Wal-mart, then kudos to you for taking the initiative to get started!

So it sounds like a lot of the novel was based on personal experience?

Oh my, yes! There’s truth in the idea of writing what you know.
I’ve been blessed (or cursed, depending on who you ask) to live a
varied life. In my less than thirty years on the earth, I’ve been
a wedding cake decorator, bra specialist at Victoria’s Secret, newsletter
editor, order taker at a pizza joint, file clerk at a boot factory, part-time
librarian, grocery store clerk, clerk for the Tennessee State House of
Representatives, administrative team member for a mega-church, dispatcher
for campus police, part-time caregiver to a foster child, media fellow
for a Washington, D.C. think tank, well-baby candy striper at a hospital,
asset manager for hospitals, and many, many other roles. I’ve been
married twice – once to Mr. Wrong and now to Mr. Right. And, like
any good southern woman, my family has weathered countless storms both
internally and externally. Everything that happens, that enters my life,
is an opportunity for me to open my eyes and watch. See and store what
I’m viewing, then analyze it as I attempt to figure out this world
in which I’ve been placed. My characters come from the ideas and
conclusions I draw after living, after watching, after observing and analyzing.

What was the hardest part about writing Prints
Charming?

Re-writing it. :) Seriously,
I had to rewrite all but 10,000 words in seven days because my editor
had a flash of insight. Good insight, mind
you, but still! Karen Ball read the novel and told me it would be much
better if it happened a year after the story she read. Um, um, what?! I
had a deadline to meet and I was determined to hit it. So, I unplugged
the laptop, plopped it and myself down on my front porch, and didn’t
move for as many hours as it took to get the job done.

The other hard part
was writing an honest character in Jane, not letting myself resort to
clichés or cardboard depictions. She and I have
so much in common. We’re both headstrong, but a bit reckless in our
actions. Jane was wiser than I tend to be. She knew to go to her girlfriends,
to let them help her. I have problems accepting or asking for help. Because
I lived through betrayal, it was very hard to write the scene where she
learns of her husband’s infidelity. That was one of the nights I
left the keyboard in tears.

The funnest?

The best part of writing
that manuscript was when I turned to my husband, Charlie, for help. I
was
stumped about a good gift that Jake could give
Jane. My love language is gifts and my sweet hubby tries very hard to speak
that language effectively. He’s always studying me, trying to figure
out a tangible object that will speak his love. I asked him what Jake should
give Jane and described what had happened up to that point in the novel.
The AOL cds were completely his idea.

Tell us about Glass Road PR.

Glass Road is the only
publicity firm in the country dedicated solely to representing novelists
writing
from a Christian worldview. We do not
represent or work with nonfiction, even when our novelists are the ones
writing it. We have that policy because we’re committed to the power
of stories in transmitting Truth through entertainment. When Jesus spoke
in parables – that was for people like us who work at GRPR. Sadly,
there are precious few resources open to novelists who have been called
to speak in parable to a lost and dying world. I like to think of GRPR
as their haven, the one place they can go and know they’ll be understood
as creators of story and be supported in their endeavors.

What’s
surprised you most in your work with publishers and authors?

Oh, gosh, I’m surprised every week! I’m shocked at the attitudes
of some in the industry toward novelists. Too many authors have told me
they’ve been called “glorified liars” – whoever’s
using that phrase, please stop! Others tell stories of being ignored or
degraded because they chose to write fiction rather than nonfiction. I’m
horrified and puzzled when Christian leaders don’t accept the importance
of stories in the Christian faith. If it was important enough for Jesus
to do it, how can we think it isn’t important enough for His followers?

I’m also surprised – saddened, really – at the ambition
and ego some Christian novelists have. I don’t think anybody starts
out that way. But I do think that there are a few who have begun believing
their own press, who maybe have gotten caught up in the words of glory
heaped on them in this world and lost sight of the next. It’s important
to note that instances of this are few and far between, but it’s
sad when even one of us starts getting self-important. I fall into it occasionally,
too, so don’t think I’m just accusing others. Satan knows my
weaknesses and plays me like a fiddle some days.

What does the
term “Christian worldview fiction” mean
to you?

It means I’m
a Christian. And I write stories. Period. :)

If you think about
it, I also buy groceries from a Christian worldview, renovate my house
from a Christian
worldview, swing in the hammock from
a Christian worldview, and breathe from a Christian worldview. My faith
is real, it’s the most intricate part of me. I cannot check it at
the door even if I wanted to because it cannot be separated from the being
of me.

Necessarily, that means
my faith flavors what I write. When I create, I feel a sense of joining
with the
Creator, of fumblingly (like that word?)
moving my fingers on a laptop in a pale, pale shadow of His fingers moving
in the void to create what was not there. I grieve with them – as
He grieves with us. I laugh with them – as He laughs with us. I know
their value is in being His creation – as my value is in being His
daughter. That directs my story, of course. How could it not?

The spiritual arc of
my characters is given a place of importance because, in my worldview,
it holds a place
of supreme importance. That isn’t
to say the arc is couched in spiritual terminology. That would be lazy
for me to do because it wouldn’t stretch me and it wouldn’t
be true to the character of me that God created. So, I may have a character
who heals from a broken heart and learns to love again – that’s
an illustration of the relationship between God and creation, though my
reader may never make that leap in her mind.

Actually, any romantic
story I write can be a representation of God’s
wooing of His children. He’s the Ultimate Romancer, the Creator of
Love and the One who chases after me when I run recklessly toward a cliff.
He does that because He loves me – and when Jake comes to Jane in
Prints Charming, bringing her gifts perfectly suited to her situation,
saying words of love and patience, forgiveness and grace, rest assured
those things are written because Jake is being the earthly hands and feet
of a Heavenly father – just as my husband was (and is) to me.

I’m sure it’s
often a huge challenge balancing your day job, your novel writing, and
your
family time. Are there any specific things
you do to maintain your sanity? :)

I’m supposed
to be sane? Oh no! Kidding, kidding.

The single most effective
thing I’ve ever done to maintain sanity
in a life full to overflowing is marry the man who captured my heart. He
is my support, the earthly hand of a Heavenly God. He models Christ’s
love to me in so many ways, including being patient when my temper has
grown short, bringing me dinner when I’m still sitting at the laptop
after our child’s bedtime, and giving me a hug when I’m staring
dumbstruck at a To Do list that rivals Mt Everest. He believes in me, in
this life we’re building together, in God’s commitment to us
and our commitment to Him – and his belief is strong enough for me
to lean on when mine is exhausted.

As an industry insider, what do you think is the biggest misconception
aspiring writers have about the Christian publishing industry?

I think there are two:
First, that once you’ve gotten a book contract,
you’re done. Second, that everybody in the industry will act like
a Christian.

What would
you love to write someday but haven’t yet?

I’d love to write a long epic a la Gone with the Wind. Or a mystery!
That’d be fun, though I don’t think I’d be very good
at it.

Where is your favorite place to write?

In the passenger seat of our Tahoe, with my husband at the wheel and my
kiddo in back, singing along to the radio.

What has been your most embarrassing moment so far as either an author
or a publicist (or just a person!)

Hmmm, I don’t get embarrassed very easily, so it’s hard to
come up with one. I’m sure there were plenty of times that I messed
something up or put my foot in my mouth in front of an author, though.
Just yesterday I screwed up the interview time for Karen Kingsbury with
a media rep here at BEA – yeah, always fun to make your mistakes
with New York Times best-selling authors. Why can’t my mistakes ever
be on a small scale?!?

What’s
next for you novel-wise?

I’m contracted to write four scrapbooking novels for B&H
Publishing Group. The first, Sisters, Ink, will release February 2008.
Each subsequent
novel will release every six months.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you got involved with Deeper Shopping
tv taping their fiction episodes?

That’s a fun little story! We had been pitching media who were attending
the International Christian Retail Show 2006 in Denver and got slots for
several of our authors with Deeper Living (as it’s now called). One
of those slots was for the fabulous novelist Austin W. Boyd. Well, I was
running late the morning of Austin’s interview and showed up about
10 minutes after he had begun speaking with the DL interviewer. I interrupted
only to ensure they had what they needed (water, etc.) and Austin introduced
me to his interviewer, who happened to be the owner of the network. Turns
out, Austin had been talking about GRPR with the interviewer, who was looking
for someone to co-host a fiction show, someone who was actively working
with novelists in the industry. A few discussions later, and I had agreed
to come to their studios and film some fiction segments.

It was a ball! We’ve changed a few things since then – it’s
now Deeper Living instead of Deeper Shopping and our studio moved – but
we’re still having a blast at every taping!

What are two things people might be surprised to know about you?

That I don’t
drink coffee (I prefer Diet Mt Dew for my caffeine) and that I wrestled
for much of
my life with personal insecurity.

When you’re
not writing, what do you enjoy doing?

Digging in the dirt,
planting new flowers, laying in the hammock with my son and a book, listening
to the wind in the trees, watching the blanket
of lightning bugs wave in the field across the road, baking something gooey
and fattening from scratch, shopping with my mother-in-law, playing Canasta
with my parents, helping build the new women’s ministry at my church,
scrapbooking (of course) with my girlfriends.

What did you eat for breakfast this morning?

I had room service – I’m
in New York right now at BEA. Room service is one of my rare indulgences.

Three things always found in your refrigerator:

Organic juice, organic milk, fruit.

You’re
next in line at Starbucks. What are you ordering?

If I’m in line at Starbucks, then it’s Christmas because I
don’t drink coffee – they’ve got a mint hot chocolate
that’s only available at Christmas-time and is PERFECT for getting
yourself in the holiday spirit.

What’s left unchecked in your “goals for life” list?

Have a long marriage.
Visit the French countryside and go to a flea market or auction there.
Learn
to speak French. Have a little girl. Finish the
race I began. Hear those precious, precious words, “Well done, my
child,” cross the lips of my Savior.

When was the last time you cried?

Last night at Les
Miserables.
I cried when Jean Valjean died. I also cried tears of laughter because
the guy playing Valjean had a significant spitting
problem when he sang – we were sitting on the second row and I kept
praying he wouldn’t end up spitting on us. I was with Karen Ball,
Jamie Carie, and her husband at the play and, at one point, Karen started
laughing hysterically (silently – you know, when your face turns
all red and your whole body is shaking because you’re trying to be
quiet and not make a scene?) and that got me going and before you know
it we were shaking in our seats trying not to release guffaws at this guy
with the voice of an angel, but a problem with spittle!

Three words that best describe you:

Driven. Invested. Curious

What’s
currently in your CD player/iPod?

My iPod is loaded! Everything from Patsy Cline to Gwen Stefani to Kenny
Chesney to Chris Rice to John Legend to Beethoven.

Anything else
you’d
like to share with TitleTrakk.com readers?

I want to thank you
if you’ve
read this far! :)

C.J.
Darlington is the award-winning authof of Thicker than Blood,
Bound by Guilt, and Ties that Bind. She
is a regular contributor to Family Fiction
Digital Magazine and NovelCrossing.com.
A homeschool graduate, she makes her home in Pennsylvania
with her family and their menagerie of dogs, a cat, and a paint horse named
Sky. Visit
her online
at her
author website. You can also look
her
up
at Twitter and Facebook.